A New Season In 'Elite Dangerous' Starts Feb 27

The third season of Elite Dangerous content is finally ready. Frontier Developments revealed in a new trailer that the first chapter of Elite Dangerous: Beyond arrives next week.

The update will further advance the game's story, which recently introduced the powerful and mysterious Thargoids. Now that the entire galaxy is aware of their presence, it’s time for you to fight back with the Chieftain. This new ship was built specifically for Thargoid-based combat, with a large suite of offensive capabilities. The tradeoff you make for more firepower is defense--you’ll need constantly dodge attacks if you want to stay alive. If you want to keep track of the Thargoids and other developing story lines in the galaxy, you can also listen to the new GalNet Audio system.

When you’re not fighting aliens, you can continue your career as a pirate or a smuggler of illegal goods. However, the consequences are much more severe in the new season thanks to new notoriety ranks and the addition of the Advance Tactical Response (ATR) system. As your rap sheet fills up, the ATR will send powerful computer-controlled ships to hunt you down. You can choose to run away, stand your ground, or succumb to their firepower.

Those who live the life of a trader in space will also benefit from the new season with the introduction of tech brokers who provide “rare tools and technologies.” If you have materials stored on your ship, you can also visit material traders who will convert or exchange parts with you. This makes it easier for you to unlock engineering and trading missions with the new tech brokers.

Other updates coming next week include a new overlay to show trade data across multiple star systems, improvements to the crafting feature, and overall changes to the mission rewards system.

Throughout the year, Frontier plans to add more content such as visual upgrades, ships, and new missions. Sometime in Q4 2018, the studio will introduce another major update that includes the “Squadrons” clan system, new mining tools, and a Codex to keep track of the story and journey milestones.